Clean Air

Epa Reprieve Is A Challenge To Be Accepted

March 09, 1995

The Environmental Protection Agency has given Hampton Roads the reprieve that it sought, and the region should take advantage by working toward a solution to its worsening air quality. If the region fails, it will almost certainly face federal sanctions eventually.

The EPA could have required auto emissions testing, more expensive gasoline and restrictions on new industries that emit smog-producing pollutants because Hampton Roads failed the federal air quality tests. The region registered unacceptable levels of ozone on four or more days during a three year period.

That seems to be an extraordinarily strict test. But the degradation of the air has occurred over the past 15 years. The increase in pollution has been slow but consistent. Failing the test was inevitable. The only question was when it would happen.

Fortunately for those who want to avoid federal sanctions, the region failed the test at the very time the EPA has come under attack and been accused of going too far in its regulations by the new Republican majority in Congress. When local leaders asked for a chance to solve the problem, the agency backed off and delayed a decision on imposing sanctions for several months.

The region's future is now in its own hands. Local officials can sit back while the air quality continues to worsen and then cry foul when EPA decides the situation is too serious to ignore. That could take a few months or a few years, but given the unremitting growth in the area, it seems inevitable. Instead, those officials should begin immediately working cooperatively to face a regional problem, come up with regional solutions and solve the problem.